Closing the Perception Gap: How Corrective Information Can Reduce Misperceptions of the Link Between Immigrant Background and Crime

Public perceptions in Western societies often overstate the role of immigration in crime, with important implications for both policy preferences and intergroup relations. Drawing on data from a three-wave experiment in Sweden (N = 1,709), this study evaluates the effectiveness, persistence, and spillover effects of providing corrective information about the risk of being suspected of a crime among individuals with a foreign versus a native background. The results showed that exposure to corrective information improved participants’ estimates of risk of crime suspicion for those with a foreign background, including their relative risk compared with natives. At the same time, the correction affected perceived risks associated with specific crime types, not addressed by the same. Taken together, these results suggest that corrective information can improve public knowledge and narrow a perception gap surrounding immigrants’ general involvement in crime relative to natives, but also that such corrections might spillover into perceptions about specific crimes, which may not necessarily be more accurate.